A disabled mother-of-three in Stonebridge has accused her landlords of forcing her to move into a home that she claims is infested with RATS.

Delisha Etienne, of Fawood Avenue, says Hyde Housing (HH) are failing to tackle a rodent infestation instead insisting she most move into the three-bedroom house in nearby Wood Road.

The 34-year-old, who has lupus arthritis and walks with a stick, is refusing to leave her current property until she says the infestation is being dealt with despite signing a new tenancy agreement for her new home in April.

When she viewed the property she said she saw signs of infestation and had asked her landlords to carrying out a thorough pest control operation including the removal of fitted carpet covered in droppings.

She said: “When they showed me the property I said I’ll take it, but they must rip the carpet out, and sort the kitchen out.

“There was activity of rats in there; there are holes in the property, droppings everywhere.

“When they gave me the keys three days later telling me it was ready, I went to look and they’d done nothing.”

Ms Etienne said she will not move with her children Javanie, 11, Shyanne, nine, and Sha-Mya, four, until the situation is remedied despite her current home being classed as “inadequate” by council surveyors.

“When I went to clean up, there was so much rat droppings and urine on the kitchen cupboards, I just left it,” she said.

“They (HH) won’t send out pest control, they won’t do anything about it, they’re telling me I have to move in.”

“We lived in a property seven years ago with rats and my nine-year-old daughter had terrible asthma attacks. I’m not doing that again.”

Denise Brend, lettings manager at HH, said: “We’re disappointed to hear that Ms Etienne is unhappy with her new home as we’ve supported her throughout the process to find a home which is ready for occupation. Ms Etienne raised no issues when she first viewed the property. There were no signs of an infestation of mice and she readily accepted the move. However we do take her concerns seriously and are currently investigating her claims and will continue to keep her updated.

“At the viewing Ms Etienne requested that the carpet was left, we therefore arranged for it to be professionally cleaned. Ms Etienne has since been in touch to say that she does not now want the carpet and we have removed it.”

An 80-year-old grandmother was called a “f***ing bitch” in a “foul outburst” by her alleged murderer months before she was strangled with a lawnmower cord in a Colindale allotment shed, the Old Bailey heard today.